Empowering Communities Together

여러분 안녕하세요,

AB 1949 법안 청문회가 아래와 같이 개최됩니다:

📅 일시: 2026년 4월 14일 (화) 오후 1시 30분

📍 장소: 1021 O Street, Room 1100, Sacramento, CA 95814

시간이 되시는 분들께서는 현장 참석으로 지지해 주시거나,

지지 서한 (Support Letter) 제출을 부탁드립니다.

이번 법안의 주요 내용은 다음과 같습니다:

• **의료적 필요성 (Medical Necessity)**을 기준으로 함

• Medi-Cal 시스템 내에서 침술의 활용성과 접근성 개선

여러분의 참여는 법안 추진에 매우 중요합니다.

많은 관심과 적극적인 지원에 감사드립니다!

各位同仁好，

AB 1949 将于 2026年4月14日（周二）下午1:30 在加州议会大厦举行听证会：

📍 地址：1021 O Street, Room 1100, Sacramento, CA 95814

诚挚邀请大家有时间的同仁尽量到现场支持，或提交支持信（support letter）。

当前法案重点在于：

• 以 医疗必要性（medical necessity） 为依据

• 优化针灸在 Medi-Cal 体系中的使用与可及性

大家的参与对于推动法案非常关键，感谢支持！

Legislation is being proposed that would authorize physical therapists to perform “dry needling” in California. The legislation carrying this change is AB 2497 authored by Assemblymember Natasha Johnson. Under existing California law and regulatory interpretation, dry needling falls within the statutory definition of acupuncture because it involves the insertion of acupuncture needles, Class II medical devices regulated by the FDA, into the human body to stimulate anatomical points.

The issue before you is patient safety and professional standards. 

In California, more than 13,000 licensed acupuncturists complete a four-year master’s or doctoral-level education, including minimum 2,050 hours of didactic instruction and 950 hours of supervised clinical training before they are permitted to insert a needle into a patient. These rigorous requirements were established deliberately by the Legislature to protect the public from harm associated with invasive procedures.

Improper needle insertion, particularly near the lungs, organs, spine, or major blood vessels, can cause serious complications, including pneumothorax (collapsed lung), nerve injury, infection, and organ puncture. These are not theoretical risks. In recent years, high-profile cases have demonstrated the real dangers of inadequately trained practitioners performing dry needling. In December 2025, T. J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers publicly disclosed that he suffered a pneumothorax during a dry needling procedure, requiring surgery. Previously, an American freeskier -Torin Yater-Wallace -sustained a collapsed lung from dry needling performed by a physical therapist prior to competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and a World-class Canadian judo athlete Kim Ribble-Orr- suffered a career-ending lung injury and infection following the same procedure performed by her massage therapist. 

While professional athletes may have immediate access to emergency medical care, many Californians do not.

California has already established clear statutory boundaries: invasive needle procedures such as acupuncture may be performed by licensed acupuncturists, physicians, surgeons, dentists, and podiatrists, professionals who meet comprehensive education and licensure standards. Creating a lower or parallel standard for the same invasive procedure would undermine these safeguards and create a two-tiered system of needle medicine that places patients at unnecessary risk.

There is no access crisis. California has thousands of highly trained, licensed acupuncturists who are accessible to provide this care safely and lawfully.

Patient safety must remain paramount. The Legislature should not lower training standards for invasive procedures or circumvent the protections it has carefully enacted. 

We respectfully urge you not to author or support AB 2497 and to safeguard the health and safety of the people of California.

拟议立法将授权物理治疗师在加利福尼亚执行“干针疗法”。提出该立法变更的是由Natasha Johnson撰写的AB 2497法案。在现行加利福尼亚法律及监管解释下，干针疗法属于针灸的法定定义范畴，因为它涉及将针灸针（由美国食品药品监督管理局监管的二类医疗器械）插入人体以刺激特定解剖点。

当前面临的问题是患者安全与专业标准。

在加利福尼亚，超过13,000名持牌针灸师完成了为期四年的硕士或博士级教育，包括至少2,050小时的课堂教学和950小时的临床监督培训，然后才被允许向患者插针。这些严格要求是立法机关有意设定的，以保护公众免受与侵入性操作相关的伤害。

不当的针刺，尤其是在靠近肺脏、器官、脊柱或主要血管的部位，可能导致严重并发症，包括气胸（肺塌陷）、神经损伤、感染和器官穿刺。这些风险并非理论上的。近年来，多起高调案例显示了训练不足的从业者执行干针疗法的真实危险。例如：

• 2025年12月，T. J. Watt公开披露他在干针疗法中发生气胸，需要手术治疗。 
• 此前，美国自由滑雪运动员Torin Yater-Wallace在2014年冬奥会前被物理治疗师进行干针疗法后，肺部塌陷。 
• 加拿大世界级柔道运动员Kim Ribble-Orr在其按摩治疗师执行干针疗法后，肺部受伤并感染，导致职业生涯结束。 

尽管职业运动员可以立即获得紧急医疗护理，但许多加利福尼亚居民无法享有此类便利。

加利福尼亚已经建立了明确的法定界限：侵入性针刺程序，如针灸，仅可由持牌针灸师、医生、外科医生、牙医和足病医生执行，这些专业人员均符合全面的教育和执业许可标准。为同一侵入性程序设立较低或平行标准，将破坏这些保护措施，创造一个“两级针刺医疗系统”，使患者面临不必要的风险。

加利福尼亚并不存在医疗服务获取危机。该州拥有数千名训练有素、持牌的针灸师，可以安全合法地提供相关护理。

患者安全必须始终放在首位。立法机关不应降低侵入性操作的培训标准，也不应规避其精心制定的保护措施。

我们恳请您不要起草或支持AB 2497，并请维护加利福尼亚人民的健康与安全

 Hi, everyone,

The California Acupuncture Coalition has sponsored three bills this year: SB 944, AB 1949, and AB 2668.

• SB 944 provides stability for Medi-Cal funding for acupuncture services.
• AB 1949 removes the twice-per-month service cap, improving the effectiveness and continuity of acupuncture treatment.
• AB 2668 raises the required educational standard for acupuncturists from a master’s degree to a doctoral degree.

Please start reaching out to students, faculties, alumni, patients, colleagues, family members, etc. to encourage them to come out to the State Capitol on March 25 to give testimony during our bill’s hearing. The testimony will be very simple and will be as follows :

Patients: “Hello. My name is xxxx. I have been an acupuncture patient for XXX years and I am in support of SB 944.”

Acupuncturists: “Hello. My name is xxxx and I am a licensed acupuncturist in California. I am in support of SB 944.”

Please use the Google Form to fill out letters of support for our bills. It is very easy and takes less than one minute. 

You can also print the attached flyer with QR code and put it in your practice to have patients sign the letters.

尊敬的针灸医师、针灸学生、针灸患者及社会各界友好人士，大家好！
California Acupuncture Coalition（加州针灸联盟，CAC）今年正在积极推动三项与加州针灸行业密切相关的重要提案。具体如下：
SB 944（提案人：州参议员 Scott Wiener）该法案将确保加州 Medi-Cal 项目所涵盖的针灸治疗能够持续获得资金支持，即使联邦政府没有拨款，加州仍可为针灸医疗提供保障。

AB 1949（提案人：州众议员 Alex Lee）该法案将允许针灸师 每年最多提供 24 次治疗服务，而不是目前 每月仅两次的限制，从而让针灸师在为患者制定治疗计划时拥有 更大的灵活性。

AB 2668（提案人：州众议员 Mike Fong）该法案将 逐步提高加州针灸师的教育与培训标准。到 2032 年，针灸教育/培训时数将从 3000 小时增加到 3300 小时，并设立博士级别的专业头衔 “针灸与中药医师” Doctor of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine（DAHM）。

我们诚挚邀请 加州的针灸医师、针灸学生、针灸患者以及社会各界人士 在网上签名支持这些提案。您可以 选择支持其中一个或多个提案。

请扫描 QR 二维码，或点击以下链接提交签名：https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd36Y6csCaAaZXjmJASQoqxy6s8F28fMqVvnUdOzVYOCUPcEA/viewform

同时也欢迎 中医诊所打印带有二维码（QR Code）的宣传单张，放在诊所内，邀请患者扫描签名，共同支持加州针灸立法，争取更多针灸医疗福利。
非常感谢大家的支持！

这个链接是 美国针灸相关法案的支持签名页面，旨在 促进针灸医疗发展，惠及广大民众的健康医疗服务。
请大家按照以下步骤填写支持：
点击链接进入页面 在 Support（支持） 左边的小方框 □ 中 把三个方框都勾选上 填写 您的姓名 选择您的身份： • Patient（患者） • Acupuncturist（针灸师） • Student（学生）
填写 电子邮箱地址（可选）
最后点击 Submit（提交） 即可完成。
感谢大家支持针灸立法，为针灸行业与大众健康共同努力！